I wanted to wait a while after having finished the Scoutmaster training to let my thoughts settle in a bit before I wrote this post. I may have waited too long, and lost some of the wild enthusiasm I had before, but I am going to try and put something together none the less.
Even without owning a TV it has been impossible to miss the fact that we are in an election season. Obviously this election, like most elections, is important, and there are plenty of other places online that talk about why. I bring this up because I was captivated by the idea expressed at some point during the training that “it is easier to build a boy into a man than repair a man gone wrong” The exact words were more elegant than that… but you get the idea.
I don’t want to sound overly grandiose, or set expectations too high for the guys coming out of my troop, so I suppose I should scale that back in a little until I have some idea what day to day working with the troop is like.
As much as I thought I had nailed down in my head what I was going to say in this post it is becoming remarkably fuzzy…
First off, it was very refreshing to realize that the goal of Scouting is to let the boys develop character and maturity through being able to learn, and fail, in safe environment. I guess I should explain, in this context ‘safe’ basically means ‘nobody is going to die’. Not that anybody at the training wants to see a kid get hurt, but there was an expectation that when you turn a dozen 13-year old boys loose with pocket-knives, a few bad-aids may be needed before the day is done.
I somehow managed to go my entire time in scouting as a boy without realizing that the adults weren’t doing that much of the “leading,” and never would have guessed that it was by design. If things are running properly, the scoutmaster isn’t suppose to do anything but act as an advisory for the senior patrol leader and the guys supporting him. I could be remembering an overly-ideal troop setup, and I haven’t been with my new troop long enough to know how practical that ideal is, but I know it is a real goal of my local troop. So much a goal, that one of the longer standing Scoutmasters is best known for his ability to smoothly guide overly-helpful parents away from the boys so they can continue to struggle putting up a tent!
I hope this doesn’t make me sound like I am excited to watch a bunch of kids get hurt or something. I am just really happy to know that Scouts aren’t overly protective or so scared of a lawsuit that they wrap everything in foam.
I know that my first real job with the troop will be as an assistant patrol advisory for one of the newer patrols. This means that another Scoutmaster-trained parent will be the primary guy trying to gently steer them towards earning their next rank, and I will fill in behind him. It also means I will be working with 13-year old boys… my dreams of building better citizens for tomorrow may not last long against the booger-jokes and giggling, but at least I can try right? 🙂
-Jordan
Nelsons 